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8 


ADDRESS 


NEW    YORK    CITY 

' 


ANTI-SLAVERY    SOCIETY, 


PEOPLE  OF  THE  CITY  OF  NEW-YORK. 


NEW- YORK : 

PRINTED   BY    WEST   &    TROW. 
1833. 


ADDRESS. 


FELLOW-CITIZENS  : 

HAVING  associated  together  for  the  purpose  of 
removing  the  greatest  reproach  from  the  character 
of  our  beloved  country,  and  of  averting  a  crisis 
which  threatens  to  involve  the  whole  land  in  ruin, 
we  consider  it  due  to  you,  who  have  the  same 
interests  at  stake  with  ourselves,  to  give  you  a 
frank  explanation  of  our  principles  and  plans. 
We  trust  to  the  candor  of  our  fellow-citizens,  that 
this  enlightened  community  will  pronounce  an  up 
right  judgment  when  they  shall  become  fully  ac 
quainted  with  our  views  ;  while  we  respectfully 
protest  against  being  judged  by  the  misrepresenta 
tions  of  those  who  are  strangers  to  the  feelings  of 
our  hearts,  and  forgetful  of  the  principles  of  Ame 
rican  liberty. 

Our  object,  as  set  forth  in  our  Constitution,  to 
which  we  refer  you,  is  "  to  take  all  lawful,  moral, 
and  religious  means,  to  effect  a  total  and  immediate 
abolition  of  slavery  in  the  United  States."  To 
aim  at  less,  would  be  to  aid  in  perpetuating  sla- 


M27G807 


very.  We  are  quite  sure  that  all  virtuous  citi 
zens  desire  its  extinction.  It  is  our  object  to 
recommend  to  them  the  only  practicable  and  safe 
plan  which  has  ever  been  proposed  for  the  accom 
plishment  of  this  great  moral  enterprise.  It  is 
that  of 

IMMEDIATE  EMANCIPATION. 

By  this  term,  we  mean  to  say  that  all  property 
of  man  in  man  should  instantly  cease ; — that  the 
right  of  all  men  to  a  fair  recompense  for  their  labor 
should  be  practically  as  well  as  theoretically  ad 
mitted;  and  that  all  the  people  of  these  United 
States  should  be  equally  secured  in  the  possession 
of  the  "  unalienable  rights"  recognized  in  the  Decla 
ration  of  Independence,  "of  life,  liberty,  and  the 
pursuit  of  happiness/7 

By  the  epithet  immediate,,  we  mean  emphatically 
to  mark  our  dissent  from  the  project  of  gradual 
abolition — a  plan  that,  on  the  testimony  of  Wilber- 
force  and  Clarkson,  and  the  unanimous  consent  of 
the  philanthropists  of  England,  has  been  the  virtual 
means  of  preventing  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the 
British  possessions,  for  nearly  half  a  century;  a 
plan  which  has,  for  almost  sixty  years,  beguiled  the 
free  citizens  of  the  United  States,  by  soothing  the 
public  conscience  writh  the  hope  of  a  wise  and  well 
digested  measure  of  relief,  while  the  number  of 
the  oppressed  has  already  increased  from  half  a 
million  to  two  millions.  We  object,  therefore,  to 
the  scheme  of  gradual  emancipation,  because  it 
is  too  inefficient  to  arrest  the  mighty  evil  that 
threatens  to  destroy  this  nation.  In  contrast  with 


tliis,  the  world  knows  that  the  doctrine  of  imme 
diate  emancipation  has  availed  more,  the  past  six 
years,  in  England,  than  fifty  years  previous  dis 
cussion  of  the  delusive  dream  of  gradual  abo 
lition. 

We  do  not  advocate  the  emancipation  of  the 
colored  race  from  LAW  ;  on  the  contrary,  we  plead 
for  them  that  they  may  be  placed  under  its  control 
and  protection.  We  do  not  address  ourselves  to 
the  oppressed;  but  with  hearts  of  benevolence  to 
both  master  and  slave,  we  beseech  the  master  to 
grant  to  his  slave,  what  humanity,  justice,  interest, 
conscience  and  God  demand.  By  immediate  eman 
cipation,  therefore,  we  mean  that  measures  shall 
be  immediately  taken  to  deliver  the  slave  from  the 
arbitrary  will  of  the  master,  and  place  him  under 
the  salutary  restraints  and  protection  of  law.  We 
do  not  aim  at  any  interference  with  the  constitu 
tional  rights  of  the  slave  holding  states,  for  Con 
gress,  as  is  well  understood,  has  no  power  to 
abolish  slavery  in  the  several  states. 

We  see  no  absurdity  in  the  use  of  immediate,  as 
applied  to  these  measures,  nor  do  we  transcend  the 
ordinary  force  of  language  when  we  call  an  im 
portant  and  complex  public  measure  an  immediate 
one,  if  it  be  promptly  commenced  with  the  honest 
determination  of  urging  it  on  to  its  completion. 
The  immediate  subjugation  of  a  revolted  province, 
may  be  consistently  urged  by  the  senator  who 
knows  that  a  protracted  campaign  may  intervene 
between  the  decree  and  its  accomplishment.  Or 
as  our  fathers,  on  the  4th  of  July  '76,  declared  the 


6 

United  States  a  free  and  independent  nation  ;  not 
withstanding  it  required  seven  years'  conflict  to 
place  them  in  full  enjoyment  of  the  blessing. 

SAFETY  OF  IMMEDIATE  EMANCIPATION. 

However  new  the  doctrine  of  immediate  eman 
cipation  may  appear  to  some,  there  is  abundant 
evidence  that  such  a  measure  does  not  involve 
danger  or  loss  to  the  emancipated,  or  to  the  com 
munity.  Bolivar  proclaimed  liberty  to  his  slaves, 
and  many  proprietors  followed  his  example : 
nearly  a  million  of  colored  slaves  inhabited  Co 
lombia  at  that  time,  and  a  large  part  were  imme 
diately  emancipated.  M.  Ravenga  declares  that 
the  effect  has  been  a  degree  of  docility  on  the  part 
of  the  blacks,  and  a  degree  of  security  on  the  part 
of  the  whites,  unknown  in  any  preceding  period  of 
the  history  of  that  republic. 

In  speaking  of  the  slaves,  captured  by  British 
vessels,  and  sent  to  Sierra  Leone,  Clarkson  says  :— - 
"  They  must  have  contracted  as  mortal  a  hatred  of 
the  lohites  from  their  sufferings  on  board  ship  by 
fetters,  whips,  and  suffocation  in  the  hold,  as  the 
West  Indian  from  those  severities  which  are 
attached  to  their  bondage  upon  shore.  Under 
these  circumstances  then  we  find  them  made  free ; 
but,  observe,  not  after  any  preparatory  discipline, 
but  almost  suddenly,  and  not  singly,  but  in  bodies, 
at  a  time.  We  find  them  also  settled,  or  made  to 
live,  under  the  unnatural  government  of  the  whites ; 
and,  what  is  more  extraordinary,  we  lind  their  pre 
sent  number,  as  compared  with  that  of  the  whites 


in  the  same  colony,  nearly  as  one  hundred  and  fifty 
to  one;  notwithstanding  which  superiority,  fresh 
emancipations  are  constantly  taking  place,  as  fresh 
cargoes  of  the  captured  arrive  in  port." 

The  abolition  of  slavery,  in  Mexico,  was  virtu 
ally  immediate.  The  slaves  were  at  once  taken 
from  the  arbitrary  will  of  their  masters,  and  placed 
under  law.  A  system  of  apprenticeship  was  esta 
blished,  allowing  them  to  apply  the  compensation 
received  for  their  labor,  to  the  purchase  of  them 
selves  and  families;  and  in  seven  years,  slavery 
had  ceased  to  exist  throughout  that  great  Re 
public.  Dr.  Walsh  states  that  in  Brazil  there  are 
more  than  half  a  million  enfranchised  persons, 
Africans  or  of  African  descent,  who  were  either 
slaves  themselves,  or  are  the  descendants  of  slaves. 
He  says,  they  are  generally  speaking  "  well  con 
ducted  and  industrious  persons,  who  compose,  indis 
criminately  different  orders  of  the  community. 
There  are  among  them  merchants,  farmers,  doc 
tors,  lawyers,  priests,  and  officers  of  different 
ranks." 

St.  Domingo  has  reduced  to  practice  the  same 
doctrines,  with  similar  good  effects.  We  are 
aware  that  misrepresentations  of  the  St.  Domingo 
revolution  have  been  so  industriously  made  that 
few  persons  are  at  all  acquainted  with  the  real 
state  of  facts. 

During  the  French  revolution,  it  will  be  remem 
bered,  equality  of  rights  was  decreed  to  all  citizens. 
When  this  was  known  in  St.  Domingo,  the  free 
people  of  color  petitioned  the  National  Assembly 


8 

that  they  might  enjoy  the  same  political  privilege»s 
as  the  whites,  which  was  granted.  In  1794,  the 
Conventional  Assembly  of  France,  passed  a  decree 
for  the  abolition  of  slavery  throughout  the  French 
colonies.  Colonel  Malenfant,  a  slave  proprietor, 
resident  at  the  time  in  the  island,  says : 

"  The  negroes  remained  quiet  both  in  the  South  and  in  the 
West,  and  they  continued  to  work  upon  all  the  plantations.  There 
were  estates,  indeed,  which  had  neither  owners  nor  managers 
resident  upon  them,  for  some  of  these  had  been  put  into  prison  by 
Montbrun :  and  others,  fearing  the  same  fate,  had  fled  to  the 
quarter  which  had  just  been  given  up  to  the  English.  Yet  upon 
these  estates,  though  abandoned,  the  negroes  continued  their 
labors,  where  there  were  any,  even  inferior,  agents  to  guide  them ; 
and  on  those  estates,  where  no  white  men  were  left  to  direct  them, 
they  betook  themselves  to  the  planting  of  provisions ;  but  upon 
all  the  plantations  where  the  whites  resided,  the  blacks  continued 
to  labor  as  quietly  as  before.  During  the  year  1795  and  part  of 
1796  I  learn  nothing  about  them  ;  neither  good,  bad  nor  indiffer 
ent,  though  I  have  ransacked  the  French  historians  for  this  pur 
pose." 

From  the  latter  end  of  1796  to  1802,  a  period 
of  six  years,  the  planters  kept  possession  of  their 
estates  ;  lived  upon  them  peaceably  ;  and  the  freed 
negroes  continued  to  be  their  laborers.  Can  there 
be  any  account  more  favorable  to  our  views  than 
this,  after  so  sudden  an  emancipation  1 

The  former  masters,  accustomed  to  the  practice 
of  arbitrary  power,  and  to  look  down  upon  the 
negroes  as  reptiles  of  the  earth,  could  not  bear  to 
come  into  familiar  relations  with  them  as  free 
laborers,  peaceably  as  the  manumitted  slaves  had, 
for  years,  conducted  themselves.  In  an  evil  hour 


they  prevailed  upon  Bonaparte,  by  false  represen 
tations,  and  promises  of  money,  to  restore  slavery. 
He  prepared  an  immense  armament  under  Leclerc, 
to  bring  about  that  event.  The  hellish  expedition 
at  length  arrived  on  the  shores  of  St.  Domingo  :— 
a  scene  of  blood  and  torture  followed,  such  as 
history  had  never  before  disclosed,  and  compared 
with  which,  though  planned  and  executed  by 
whites,  all  the  barbarities  said  to  have  been  per 
petrated  by  the  insurgent  blacks,  amount  compara 
tively  to  nothing.  In  fine,  the  French  were  driven 
from  the  island.  Till  that  time  the  planters 
retained  their  property,  and  then  it  was,  but  not 
till  then,  that  they  lost  their  all. 

From  that  time  to  this,  there  has  been  no  want 
of  subordination  or  industry  among  them.  They, 
or  their  descendants,  are  the  persons  by  whom  the 
plains  and  valleys  of  St.  Domingo  are  still  cultiva 
ted,  and  they  are  reported  to  follow  their  occupa 
tions  still,  and  with  as  fair  a  character  as  other  free' 
laborers  in  any  other  quarter  of  the  globe. 

We  have  now  seen,  that  the  emancipated 
negroes  never  abused  their  liberty,  from  the  year 
1794,  (the  era  of  their  general  emancipation)  to 
the  present  day,  a  period  of  forty  years.*  Will  any 
one  say  that  this  case  is  not  analogous  to  that 
which  we  have  in  contemplation  ?  Let  us  remem 
ber  that  the  number  of  slaves  liberated  by  the 

*  See  Clarkson's  "  Thoughts  on  the  Practicability  and  safety  of  immediate 
emancipation.  The  substance  of  this  inestimable  pamphlet  is  found  in  the  Anti- 
Slavery  Reporter,  No.  3,  and  should  be  thoroughly  studied  by  every  one  who  wishes 
to  form  his  opinion  upon  facts.  The  Reporter  is  a  periodical  printed  in  this  city, 
and  can  be  had  at  the  bookstores, 

2 


10 

French  decrees  in  St.  Domingo  was  very  little 
short  of  500,000  persons.  We  maintain  that 
emancipation  in  St.  Domingo  was  attended  with 
far  more  hazard  to  persons  and  property,  and  with 
far  greater  difficulties,  than  it  could  possibly  be,  it 
attempted  in  this  country.  All  the  slaves  were 
made  free  at  once,  or  in  a  single  day.  No  notice 
was  given  of  the  event,  arid  of  course  no  prepara 
tion  could  be  made  for  it. — They  were  released  sud 
denly,  from  all  their  former  obligations  and  restraints, 
and  became  peaceable  and  industrious  citizens. 

We  cannot  find  a  single  instance  in  which  eman 
cipation  has  been  tried,  that  one  drop  of  white  blood 
has  been  shed,  or  even  endangered  by  it.  The  en 
franchised  inhabitants  of  Jamaica  are  more  nume 
rous  than  the  whites ;  and  yet  it  appears,  by  returns 
printed  by  order  of  the  House  of  Commons,  that  the 
proportion  of  criminal  convictions  of  whites,  and  of 
enfranchised  persons,  was  as  twenty-four  of  the  for 
mer  to  eight  of  the  latter.  In  Barbadoes  the  free  ne 
groes  and  mulattoes  are  industrious,  and  are  never 
seen  begging,  whereas  the  island  is  pestered  with 
white  beggars,  of  all  ages.  In  Trinidad,  there  are 
upwards  of  fifteen  thousand  free  people  of  color ; 
there  is  not  a  single  pauper  amongst  them  ;  they 
live  independently  and  comfortably,  and  nearly 
half  the  island  is  said  to  be  in  their  hands.  It  is 
admitted  that  they  are  highly  respectable  in  cha 
racter,  and  are  rapidly  advancing  in  knowledge 
and  refinement,  The  Haytians  are  700,000  in 
1 1 umber.  There  are  no  paupers,  except  the  decre- 
pid  and  aged.  The  people  are  charitable,  hospita- 


11 

ble  and  kind,  very  respectful  to  foreigners,  tempe 
rate,  orderly,  easily  governed,  and  good  mecha 
nics,  Admiral  Fleming  says,  "  The  most  happy,  the 
best  fed,  and  the  most  comfortable  negroes  I  ever 
saw  in  the  West  Indies  were  in  Hayti,  even  better 
than  in  the  Carraccas,  and  decidedly  better  than 
the  slaves  in  Jamaica.'7 

We  also  speak  of  immediate  abolition,  to  distin 
guish  our  proposals  from  all  indirect  attempts  to 
destroy  slavery,  in  our  country.  Our  object  being 
both  lawful  and  honorable,  our  means  honest,  and 
our  motives  pure,  we  have  no  occasion  to  conceal 
them,  by  professing  to  aim  at  something  else.  We 
consider  it  criminal  to  amuse  the  country  with  any 
project,  which  will  not  attain  an  end  so  essential 
to  the  prosperity  and  very  existence  of  our  happy 
union.  It  is  generally  admitted,  that  the  accursed 
system  of  slavery  has  already  made  the  pillars  of 
our  government  tremble,  and  it  is  demonstrable 
that  nothing  but  its  total  removal  can  prevent  the 
final  overthrow  and  ruin  of  this  republic. 

It  is  one  of  our  objects  to  inculcate  the  doc 
trine  of  Immediate  Abolition  as  an  important  moral 
sentiment,  as  a  duty  we  owe  to  our  common  Cre 
ator,  to  our  fellow-men,  and  to  ourselves,  as  repub 
licans  and  Christians.  We  shall  aim  to  show  that 
this  duty  applies  to  individuals,  to  communities, 
to  those  who  lead  public  opinion,  to  those  who  are 
conductors  of  the  press,  to  preachers  of  the  Gospel, 
to  educators  of  youth,  to  parents,  and  to  all  de 
scriptions  of  persons,  as  they  love  the  human  family, 
fear  a  just  God7  and  hope  for  a  blessed  immortal1"4" 


12 

So  far  are  we,  therefore,  from  seeking  to  (urn 
loose  an  ungovernable  horde  of  blacks,  to  prey 
upon  society,  that  our  sole  design  is  to  have  them 
transferred  from  despotism  to  the  control  of  law, 
providing  for  their  regular  employment,  encoura 
ging  their  industry,  preventing  idleness,  punishing 
vagrancy,  and  securing  their  just  compensation ; 
leaving  them  to  labor  on  the  soil  where  most  of 
them  were  born,  and  in  the  employments  to  which 
they  are  both  fixed  and  accustomed  ;  to  endeavor 
to  obtain  for  our  colored  fellow  men  the  privi 
leges  held  out  to  them  in  our  Declaration  of  In 
dependence,  and  to  which  they  are  entitled  by  the 
sentiment  of  the  civilized  world,  as  well  as  by 
the  law  of  God.  We  feel  certain  that  when  the 
public  mind  shall  be  permitted  to  know  the  facts 
and  shall  be  disabused  of  the  impressions  by 
which  it  has  been  imposed  upon,  it  will  call,  in  a 
tone  not  to  be  denied,  for  the  adoption  of  measures 
right  in  themselves,  congenial  with  our  republican 
principles,  and  fraught  witli  benefits  to  the  whole 
people.* 

We  ask  your  attention  now  to  a  few  considera 
tions  showing  the  true  aspect  of  slavery  among  us, 
which  are  entitled  to  the  most  serious  attention.! 
These  propositions,  be  it  remembered,  are  each 

*  "I  am  for  speedy,  immediate  abolition.  I  care  not  what  caste,  creed  or  color, 
slavery  may  assume.  1  am  for  its  total,  its  instant  abolition.  Whether  it  be  per 
sonal  or  political,  mental  or  corporeal,  intellectual  or  spiritual,  I  am  for  its  immediate 
abolition.  I  enter  into  no  compromise  with  slavery ;  I  am  for  justice,  in  the  name 
of  humanity  and  according  to  the  law  of  the  living  God." — O1  Council. 

tThey  are  taken  chiefly  from  the  "  Appeal  in  favor  of  that  class  of  Americans 
called  Africans,"  by  Mrs.  Child,  of  Boston,  a  work  that  should  be  in  every  family 
in  the  United  States. 


13 

supported   by  the   evidence  of   actually   existing 
laws. 

1.  Slavery  is  hereditary  and  perpetual,  to  the  last  moment  of 
the  slave's  earthly  existence,  and  to  all  his  descendants,  to  the  la 
test  posterity. 

2.  The  labor  of  the  slave  is  compulsory  and  uncompensated ; 
while  the  kind  of  labor,  the  amount  of  toil,  and  the  time  allowed 
for  rest,  are  dictated  solely  by  the  master.     No  bargain  is  made, 
no  wages  given.  A  pure  despotism  governs  the  llhuman  brute ;"  and 
even  his  covering  and  provender,  both  as  to  quantity  and  quality , 
depend  entirely  on  the  master's  discretion. 

3.  The  slave  being  considered  a  personal  chattel,  may  be  sold,  or 
pledged,   or   leased,   at   the   loill    of  his   master.     He   may    be 
exchanged  for  marketable  commodities,  or  taken  in  execution  for 
the  debts,  or  taxes,  either  of  a  living  or  a  deceased  master.     Sold 
at  auction,  "  either  individually,  or  in  lots,  to  suit  the  purchaser," 
he  may  remain  with  his  family,  or  be  separated  from  them  forever. 

4.  Slaves  can  make  no  contracts,  and  have  no  legal  right  to 
any  property,  real  or  personal.      Their  own  honest  earnings,  and 
the  legacies  of  friends  belong,  in  point  of  law,  to  their  masters. 

5.  Neither  a  slave,  or  free   colored  person,  can  be  a  icitness 
against  any  white  or  free  man,  in  a  court  of  justice,  however 
atrocious  may  have  been  the  crimes  they  have  seen  him  commit : 
but  they  may  give  testimony  against  a  fellow-slave,  or  free  color 
ed  man,  even  in  cases  affecting  life. 

6.  The  slave  may  be  punished  at  his  master's  discretion — with 
out  trial — without  any  means  of  legal  redress, — whether  his  offense 
be  real,  or  imaginary ;  and  the  master  can  transfer  the  same  des 
potic  power  to  any  person,  or  persons  he  may  choose  to  appoint. 

7.  The  slave  is  not  allowed  to  resist  any  free  man  under  any 
circumstances:  his  only  safety  consists  in  the  fact  that  his  owner 
may  bring  suit,  and  recover,  the  price  of  his  body,  in  case  his  life 
is  taken,  or  his  limbs  rendered  unfit  for  labor. 

S.  Slaves  cannot  redeem  themselves,  or  obtain  a  change  of 
masters,  though  cruel  treatment  may  have  rendered  such  a  change 
necessary  for  their  personal  safety. 

9.   The  slave  is  entirely  unprotected  in  his  domestic  relations. 


14 

10.  The  laws  greatly  obstruct  the  manumission  of  slaves,  even 
where  the  master  is  willing  to  enfranchise  them. 

11.  The  operation  of  the  laws  tench  to  deprive  slaves  of  reli 
gious  instruction  and  consolation. 

12.  The  loholc  power  of  the  laws  is  exerted  to  keep  slaves  in  a 
state  of  the  lowest  ignorance. 

13.  There  is,  in  this  country,  a  monstrous  inequality  of  law 
and  right.      What  is  a  trifling  fault  in  the  white  man,  is  consi 
dered  highly  criminal  in  the  slave ;  the  same  offences  which  cost  a 
white  man  a  few  dollars  only,  are  punished,  in  the  slave,  with  death. 

14.  The  laws  operate  most  oppressively  upon  free  people  of 
color,  as  we  shall  show  in  future  publications. 

In  some  states,*  where  killing  a  slave  is  declared 
to  be  murder,  the  case  is  excepted  of  "any  slave 
DYING  under  MODERATE  CORRECTION."  It  has  been 
judicially  determined  that  it  is  justifiable  to  kill  a 
slave,  resisting,  or  offering  to  resist  his  master,  by 
force.  This  is  found  in  the  revised  code  of  the 
law  of  slavery,  for  up  to  the  year  1821,  a  pecuniary 
fine  was  the  only  restraint  upon  the  wilful  mur 
der  of  a  slave. 

We  feel  it  to  be  our  duty  to  quote  from  authentic 
sources,  some  specimens  of  excessive  severity  in 
our  own  country,  as  examples  of  the  cruelty  that 
always  exists  in  slave  countries.  They  are  insepe- 
rable  from  the  system.  If  it  should  be  admitted 
that  a  large  proportion  of  masters  are  as  kind  to 
their  slaves  as  they  can  be,  consistently  with  keep 
ing  them  in  bondage,  it  is  certain  that  abominable 
atrocities  prevail  in  every  slave  state.  We  have  a 
mass  of  evidence  on  this  subject,  that  is  calculated 
to  awaken  a  sensibility  in  this  country,  equal  to  the 

*  Stroud's  Sketch  of  the  Slave  Law?  mthe  United  States  of  America. 


15 

feeling  excited  in  England  when  the  u  Three  months 
in  Jamaica"  was  published  in  that  country. 

A  slave  being  missing,  several  planters  united  in  a  negro 
hunt,  as  it  is  called.  They  set  out  with  dogs,  guns,  and  horses, 
as  they  would  chase  a  tiger.  The  poor  fellow,  being  discovered, 
took  refuge  in  a  tree  ;  where  he  was  deliberately  shot  by  his  pur 
suers. — Child's  Appeal,  Page  24. 

A  planter  had  occasion  to  send  a  female  slave  some  distance 
on  an  errand.  She  did  not  return  so  soon  as  he  expected,  and  he 
grew  angry.  At  last  he  gave  orders  that  she  should  be  severely 
whipped  when  she  came  back.  When  the  poor  creature  arrived, 
she  pleaded  for  mercy,  saying  she  had  been  so  very  ill,  that  she 
was  obliged  to  rest  in  the  fields;  but  she  was  ordered  to 
receive  another  dozen  of  lashes,  for  having  had  the  impudence 
to  speak.  She  died  at  the  whipping  post ;  nor  did  she  perish  alone — 
a  new-born  babe  died  with  her. — Idem,  Page  25. 

The  trade  is  still  briskly  carried  on  in  Africa,  and  new  slaves 
are  smuggled  into  these  states,  through  the  Spanish  colonies.  A 
very  extensive  internal  slave  trade  is  carried  on  in  this  country. 
The  breeding  of  negroes  for  the  markets,  in  other  states,  (Louisiana 
Georgia,  Alabama,  Arkansas,  and  Missouri,)  is  a  very  lucrative 
branch  of  business.  Whole  coffles  of  them,  chained  and  mana 
cled,  are  driven  through  our  Capital,  on  their  way  to  auction.— 
Idem,  Page  30. 

Dr.  Torrey  says,  whole  families  of  free  colored  people  have 
been  attacked,  in  the  night,  beaten  nearly  to  death  with  clubs, 
gagged,  and  bound,  and  dragged  into  distant  and  hopeless  capti 
vity,  leaving  no  traces  behind,  except  the  blood  from  their  wounds, 
— Idem,  Page  31. 

Advertisements  are  very  common,  in  which  a  mother  and  her 
children  are  offered  either  in  a  lot,  or  separately,  as  may  suit  the 
purchaser.  In  one  of  these  advertisements,  I  observed  it  stated, 
that  the  youngest  child  was  about  a  year  old. — Idem,  Page  33, 

The  captives  are  driven  by  the  whip,  through  toilsome  jour 
neys,  under  a  burning  sun  ;  their  limbs  fettered  ;  with  nothing 
before  them  but  the  prospect  of  toil  more  severe  than  that  to  which 
they  have  been  accustomed.— Idem,  Page  33. 


16 

Dealing  in  slaves  has  become  a  large  business.  Establish 
ments  are  made  at  several  places  in  Maryland  and  Virginia, 
at  which  they  are  sold  like  cattle.  These  places  are  strongly 
built,  arid  well  supplied  with  thumb  screws,  gags,  cowskins,  and 
other  whips,  oftentimes  bloody.  But  the  laws  permit  the  traffic, 
and  it  is  suffered. — Niks'  Register,  vol.  35,  page  4. 

Woman  has  no  protection  against  the  unbridled 
lust  of  her  master  or  his  overseers,  or  any  white  man. 
The  slave,  and  his  wife,  and  his  daughters,  being 
considered  as  the  property  of  their  owners,  com 
pelled  to  yield  implicit  obedience,  not  allowed  to 
give  evidence,  and  public  opinion  ridiculing  the 
slave's  claim  to  any  exclusive  right  in  his  own  wife 
and  children,  upwards  of  half  a  million  of  female 
slaves  in  this  country,  are  continually  subject  to 
the  insults  of  brutal  passion. 

In  Athens,  the  female  slave  could  demand  pro 
tection  from  the  magistrates,  against  insulting  treat 
ment.  But  the  American  female  slave  is  liable  to 
the  penalty  of  death,  if  she  do  but  raise  her  hand, 
where  by  all  other  codes,  woman  may  resist  even 
unto  death,  and  be  guiltless. 

The  general  licentiousness  that  prevails  in  slave 
countries,  is  notorious.  In  many  places  there  are 
few  slave  children  that  can  be  called  legitimate. 
The  idea  of  moral  purity  is  scarcely  more  known 
than  it  is  among  brutes.  The  multitude  of  mulat- 
toes  in  the  United  States,  bear  evidence  of  the  great 
licentiousness  that  prevails,  on  the  part  of  the  whites, 
in  their"  intercourse  with  the  black  population.  Mo 
ralists  have  depicted  its  miseries  in  glowing  colors, 
and  slave  holders  have  admitted  the  pernicious 


17 

effects  of  the  slave  system  upon  the  morals  of  the 
community  and  upon  individuals.* 

With  regard  to  the  religious  privileges  of  the 
slave,  it  is  next  to  impossible  that  there  should  be 
a  general  diffusion  of  Christianity  in  a  slave-hold 
ing  state.  In  Georgia  there  is  a  law  which  for 
bids  any  congregation  or  company  of  negroes  to 
assemble  themselves,  contrary  to  the  act  regulating 
patrols.  Every  justice  of  the  peace  may  go  in  per 
son,  or  send  a  constable,  to  disperse  any  assembly 
or  meeting  of  slaves,  which  he  supposes  may  dis 
turb  the  peace,  &c.  and  every  slave  taken  at  such 
meetings  may,  without  trial,  receive  on  the  bare 
back  twenty-five  stripes.  The  West  India  plant 
ers  boldly  proclaimed  that  slavery  and  Christianity 
could  not  exist  together,  and  that  the  latter  must 

*  ({ You  may  whitewash  the  sepulchre — you  may  put  upon  it  every  adornment 
that  fancy  can  suggest, — you  may  cover  it  over  with  all  the  flowers  and  evergreens 
that  the  garden  or  the  fields  can  furnish,  so  that  it  will  appear  beautiful  outwardly 
unto  men.  But  it  is  a  sepulchre  still — full  of  dead  men's  bones  and  of  all  unclean- 
ness.  *  *  *  Slavery  is  the  very  Upas  tree  of  the  moral  world,  beneath  whose  pesti 
ferous  shade  all  intellect  languishes,  and  all  virtue  dies." — Dr.  Andrew  Thompson. 

Slavery  "  is  not  useful,  either  to  the  master  or  to  the  slave ;  to  the  latter,  because 
he  can  do  nothing  by  virtue ;  to  the  former,  because  he  contracts,  with  his  slaves,  all 
sorts  of  evil  habits,  inures  himself  insensibly  to  neglect  every  moral  virtue,  and 
becomes  proud,  passionate,  hard-hearted,  violent,  voluptuous  and  cruel." — Mon 
tesquieu. 

"The  whole  commerce  between  master  and  slave  is  a  perpetual  exercise  of  the 
most  boisterous  passions,  the  most  unremitting  despotism  on  the  one  part,  and  de 
grading  submission  on  the  other.  Our  children  see  this,  and  learn  to  imitate  it 
for  man  is  an  imitative  animal.  The  parent  storms ;  the  child  looks  on,  catches 
the  lineaments  of  wrath,  puts  on  the  same  airs  in  a  circle  of  smaller  slaves,  gives 
loose  to  the  worst  of  passions ;  and  thus  nursed,  educated,  and  daily  exercised  in 
tyranny,  cannot  but  be  stamped  by  it  with  odious  peculiarities.  The  man  must  be 
a  prodigy,  who  can  retain  his  morals  and  manners  undepraved,  in  such  circum 
stances." — Jefferson. 

In  another  place,  the  same  statesman  has  said  in  view  of  slavery,  "I  tremble 
for  my  country,  when  I  reflect  that  God  is  just,  and  that  his  justice  cannot  sleep 
forever.  The  Almighty  has  no  attribute  which  can  take  sides  with  us." 

3 


18 

be  put  down.  The  express  command  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  makes  it  the  duty  and  privilege  of 
every  human  being  to  "  search  the  Scriptures." 
Yet,  in  this  Christian  country,  it  is  a  penal  offense 
to  teach  a  slave  to  read  the  Holy  Scriptures,  to 
give  him  a  tract,  or  a  copy  of  the  Bible.  It  is 
therefore  impossible  for  the  American  Bible  Soci 
ety  to  carry  into  effect  their  noble  resolution,  to 
supply  every  family  with  a  copy.  Although  they 
profess  to  have  accomplished  this  object,  yet 
two  millions  of  the  people  are  yet  unfurnished 
with  this  invaluable  treasure. 

In  Virginia  and  South-Carolina  any  school  for 
teaching  reading  and  writing,  either  to  slaves,  or 
free  people  of  color,  is  considered  an  unlawful  as 
sembly,  and  may  be  dispersed,  and  punishment  in 
flicted  upon  each  pupil  to  the  number  of  twenty 
lashes.  The  city  of  Savanah,  a  few  years  ago, 
passed  an  ordinance,  by  which 

"  Any  person  that  teaches  a  person  of  color,  slave  or  free, 
to  read  or  write,  or  causes  such  persons  to  be  so  taught,  is  sub 
jected  to  a  fine  of  thirty  dollars  for  each  offense  ;  and  every  per 
son  of  color  who  shall  teach  reading  or  writing,  is  subject  to  a 
fine  of  thirty  dollars,  or  to  be  imprisoned  ten  days  and  whipped 
thirty -nine  lashes." 

We  do  not  doubt  that  the  humanity  of  some 
slave  holders  mitigates  the  operation  of  such  laws. 
But  in  all  countries  men  are  considered  subject  to 
despotism  who  have  no  protection  but  the  gene 
rosity  of  their  rulers.  The  laws  in  any  state  are 
a  good  index  of  the  popular  will.  If  then  a  major 
ity  of  the  masters,  in  slave  states,  were  mild  and 


19 

humane,  is  it  to  be  supposed  they  would  have  pub 
lished  their  own  shame  on  the  pages  of  their  own 
statute  books  1  It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  in 
human  despotism,  cruelty  of  practice  is  wont  to 
go  beyond  cruelty  of  law.  If  we  do  not  believe 
this  general  principle,  in  regard  to  the  slaves  in 
our  own  land,  must  it  not  be  because  we  have  re 
ceived  the  testimony  of  the  master  only  ? 

If  any  thing  could  aggravate  the  case  of  a 
slave,  it  is  that  he  is  in  a  land  boasting  of  its  free 
dom,  among  people  who  are  continually  speaking 
the  praises  of  liberty,  and  under  a  government,  of 
which  the  corner  stone  is  the  declaration  that  "  all 
men   are   created   equal."       These    laws,   so  in 
consistent  with  natural  justice,  and  with  religion, 
are  continually  increasing  in  severity ;   their  rigor 
in  fact  keeping  pace  with  the  increasing  number 
of  the  slaves.     Fifty-seven  years  ago,  the  world 
observed  the  inconsistency  between  our  glorious 
declaration  of  equal  rights,   and  our  practice  of 
domestic  slavery.     But  witnessing  the  efforts  of 
Franklin,  Rush,  Jay,  King,  Sedgwick,  and  other 
patriots,   who  soon  after   the   revolutionary  war 
formed  societies  to  promote  the  same  great  end  at 
which  we  now  aim,  gave  us  credit  for  sincerity, 
and    took    for    granted    that    effectual   measures 
would  be  adopted  for  the  speedy  removal  of  this 
foul  blot  upon  our  national  escutcheon.    What  will 
the  wise  and  good  in  foreign  nations  now  say, 
when,  after  the  lapse  of  nearly  sixty  years,  without 
a  step  taken  for  the  extinction  of  slavery,  they  learn 
that  the  people  are  unwilling  to  listen  to  a  feasible 


20 

plan  for  its  accomplishment  1  Already  does  every 
true-hearted  American  hang  his  head  in  foreign 
lands  when  obliged  to  confess  that  he  belongs  to 
a  country,  which  has  been  fifty-seven  years  boast 
ing  of  its  liberty,  and  in  that  time  has  quadru 
pled  the  number  of  its  slaves.  Look  at  one-sixth 
of  our  twelve  million  citizens  in  slavery,  and  say, 
Shall  this  deep  stain  continue  for  ever  ? 

Slavery  must  soon  terminate,  if  in  no  other  way, 
by  the  rapidity  of  its  own  growth.  When  our  fa 
thers  declared  that  all  men  are  created  equal,  they 
still  held  about  half  a  million  in  bondage.  These 
have  increased  to  more  than  two  millions.  In  twen 
ty  years  they  will  be  four,  and  in  forty  years  eight 
millions.  Since  the  last  war  was  declared,  in  1812, 
the  slaves  have  doubled  in  number ;  and  unless  the 
remedy  be  applied  before  the  children  born  in  the 
year  1833  arrive  at  manhood,  they  will  again  double. 
The  slightest  observation  must  satisfy  any  person 
that  such  a  state  of  things  cannot  continue  in  this  en 
lightened  age.  We  have  seen  the  republics  of  the 
New  World  liberated  from  a  foreign  yoke  by  the 
powTer  of  public  opinion,  Greece  made  free,  France 
revolutionized,  Great-Britain  reformed,  Slavery 
abolished  in  the  West  Indies.  Should  liberal  princi 
ples  be  diffused  as  rapidly  in  twenty  years  to  come, 
as  they  have  advanced  in  twenty  years  past,  who  can 
believe  that  the  year  1850  will  find  four  million  per 
sons  held  in  bondage  in  republican  America  ?  Rea 
son,  humanity,  and  religion  join  in  saying,  slavery 
ought  not  to  continue.  A  calm  and  philosophical  ob 
servation  of  causes  and  effects  teaches  that  it  cannot ! 


21 


WHAT  THEN  SHALL  BE  DONE  ? 

It  is  to  this  momentous  inquiry,  that  a  sense  of 
duty  to  our  country,  and  of  kindness  to  our  brethren 
who  hold  slaves,  impels  us  to  call  your  attention. 
On  so  difficult  a  subject,  the  appeal  should  be  only 
to  the  good  sense  and  sound  judgment,  to  the  con 
science  and  the  heart,  not  to  the  baser  passions, 
nor  to  prejudice.  It  is  the  character  of  error 
and  injustice  to  be  passionate,  and  refuse  to  hear 
reason.  Neither  you  nor  we,  respected  fellow- 
citizens,  have  any  interest  but  in  finding  out  the 
truth,  and  doing  our  duty.  Let  us  not  act  the  part 
of  those,  who,  when  the  first  martyr  to  the  Christian 
religion  declared  that  truth  to  the  people,  which 
cut  them  to  the  heart,  "  gnashed  on  him  with 
their  teeth,  stopped  their  ears,  ran  upon  him  with 
one  accord,  cast  him  out  of  the  city,  and  stoned 
him." 

Nor  will  putting  off  discussion  either  remove 
the  evil,  shun  the  danger,  or  avert  the  crisis. 
Already  it  has  been  postponed  too  long.  Instead 
of  the  half  million  of  1776,  we  have  now  upwards 
of  two  millions. 

Whatever,  either  of  difficulty  or  of  danger,  there 
is  in  the  process,  will  only  be  increased  by  delay. 
If  Abolition  Societies  should  suspend  their  opera 
tions  immediately,  it  will  not  prevent  the  slaves 
from  increasing  in  a  greater  ratio  than  the  whites, 
and  amounting  to  four  millions  in  twenty  years, 
nor  hinder  every  slave  in  the  United  States  from 
speedily  learning  that  his  brethren  in  the  West 


22 

Indies  are  free.  Still  less  will  it  alter  the  inherent 
wrong  of  slavery,  or  obliterate  the  guilt  of  holding, 
buying,  and  selling  MEN  created  in  the  image  of 
God.  Nor  have  we  any  right  to  roll  upon  posteri 
ty  a  responsibility  which  properly  rests  upon  our 
selves,  and  which,  if  suffered  to  descend  to  our 
children,  will  come  upon  them  with  accumulated 
force. 

THE  CRISIS. 

No  judicious  man  can  fully  consider  this  state 
of  things,  but  he  will  arrive  at  the  conclusion  that 
slavery  must  terminate  in  one  of  three  ways  :— 
1.  By  the  extermination  of  the  blacks.  2.  By  the 
extermination  of  the  whites.  Or  3.  By  volunta 
ry  emancipation.  To  prevent  the  first  two,  by 
promoting  the  adoption  of  the  third,  is  the  aim  of 
our  society.  We  rejoice  that  humanity  and  patri 
otism  concur  with  conscience  and  scripture  in 
showing  that  the  best  way  to  do  right  is  to  do  it  as 
soon  as  we  can. 

Our  very  object  precludes  the  idea  of  all  resort 
to  force.  We  have  no  force  but  the  force  of  truth. 
Nor  do  we  propose  any  measures  not  strictly 
within  the  allegiance  we  owe  to  the  constitution 
and  laws,  under  which  we  live. 

The  course  of  examination  and  free  discussion, 
we  are  pursuing  is  the  very  method  which  our 
national  constitution  indicates,  and  secures,  when 
it  says,  "  Congress  shall  make  no  law  abridging  the 
freedom  of  speech,  or  of  the  press,  or  the  right  of 
the  people  peaceably  to  assemble."  That  in  seek- 


23 

ing  the  abolition  of  slavery  we  conform  to  the 
spirit  of  the  constitution,  and  are  strictly  within 
the  letter  of  it,  is  plain  from  the  fact,  that  this 
venerated  instrument  gives  no  sanction  to  a  system 
so  abhorrent  to  the  principles  of  '76.  In  all  those 
provisions  in  which  for  the  preservation  of  the  union 
they  thought  it  necessary  to  keep  slavery  in  view, 
as  an  existing  state  of  things,  they  acted  under 
the  expectation  that  it  was  only  temporary,  and 
would  soon  cease.  Even  the  name  of  slavery  has 
not  polluted  its  pages;  thus  showing  that  our  fathers 
would  not  have  that  document  go  dow^n  to  posterity, 
carrying  the  disgraceful  record  that  free  Americans 
once  held  their  fellow  men  as  slaves. 

Thus  it  naturally  and  properly  belongs  to  the 
several  states  to  determine  the  mode  and  circum 
stances  in  which  one  person  may  be  held  to  labor 
for  another.  The  states,  therefore,  wTill  have  the 
honor  of  terminating  slavery  within  their  respective 
bounds.  The  Constitution  declares,  that 

"  No  person  held  to  service  or  labor  in  one  state,  under  the 
laws  thereof,  escaping  into  another,  shall  in  consequence  of  any 
law  or  regulation  therein,  be  discharged  from  such  service  or 
labor  ;  but  shall  be  delivered  up  on  claim  of  the  party  to  whom 
such  service  or  labor  may  be  due." 

This  provision  is  as  applicable  to  minors  and 
apprentices  as  to  slaves,  and  will  be  as  important  to 
the  preservation  of  harmony  among  the  states, 
when  slavery  shall  have  ceased,  as  it  is  now.  And 
speaking  only  of  "  persons  held  to  service  or  labor" 
it  gives  not  the  least  countenance  to  the  odious 
claim  of  property  in  human  flesh.  If  any  one 


24 

should  make  a  claim  in  the  United  States  Court, 
solely  on  the  ground  that  a  certain  individual  was 
his  property ',  he  would  undoubtedly  he  nonsuited. 
In  apportioning  representation  and  direct 
taxes,  the  constitution  determines  the  federal 
numbers, 

"  By  adding  to  the  whole  number  of  free  persons,  including 
those  bound  to  service  for  a  term  of  years,  and  excluding  Indians 
not  taxed,  three-fifths  of  all  other  persons." 

Thus  making  it  directly  for  the  interest  of  all  the 
states  to  increase  their  power  in  the  nation,  by 
changing  all  their  "  other  persons"  to  "  free 
persons." 

But  while  we  confine  ourselves  within  the 
strictest  construction  of  constitutional  rights,  we  do 
not  intend  to  be  precluded  from  urging  any  mea 
sure  which  the  constitution  warrants.  Congress 
exercises  "  exclusive  legislation  in  all  cases  what 
soever  over"  the  District  of  Columbia.  If  evi 
dence  were  wanting  to  prove  that  we  have 
declined  from  the  principles  of  our  fathers,  we 
find  it  in  the  fact  that  the  only  portion  of  our 
country,  for  which  the  government  is  alone  respon 
sible,  is  filled  with  slaves,  and  is  the  mart  of  a 
slave  trade  scarcely  inferior  in  enormity  to  that 
of  Africa.  We  are  therefore  literally  A  SLAVE 
HOLDING  NATION.  The  abolition  of  slavery,  in 
our  own  District,  is  a  measure  within  the  power 
of  Congress,  and  so  manifestly  easy  and  safe,  that 
it  ought  not  to  be  delayed  another  year.  And 
when  this  is  done,  we  cannot  but  hope  that  some 


25 

wise  application  may  be  made  of  the  power  of 
Congress  "  to  regulate  commerce  among  the  seve 
ral  States,"  so  as  to  effect  the  entire  suppression 
of  the  infamous  DOMESTIC  SLAVE  TRADE.  While 
Congress  refuses  to  do  these  things,  the  world  will 
give  the  nation  little  credit  for  its  professed  desire 
to  abolish  this  accursed  traffic,  or  to  put  an  end  to 
slavery;  but  will  justly  think  the  alleged  want  of 
power,  on  the  part  of  Congress,  is  a  mere  pretense. 

As  our  course  is  the  only  one  by  which  slavery 
can  be  abolished,  consistently  with  the  Constitu 
tion,  so  it  presents  the  only  means  of  preserving 
our  national  union.  Already  have  we  seen  the 
speedy  dissolution  of  that  union  threatened,  and 
as  allowed  by  leading  men  of  all  parties,  mainly 
through  the  influence  of  slavery.  Scarcely  is  one 
crisis  passed  when  another  impends ;  and  it  is  evi 
dent  that  this  succession  of  dangerous  excitements 
will  never  end  but  by  the  removal  of  its  cause. 

Our  country  is  so  knit  together,  in  all  its 
parts,  that  nothing  could  ever  sunder  it  but  the 
conflicting  views  and  interests  growing  out  of 
slavery.  The  plans  proposed  enable  us  to  seek 
the  removal  of  this  cause  by  means  which  cannot 
endanger  the  security  of  the  national  compact,  and 
which,  when  successful,  will  greatly  strengthen  our 
national  bonds.  The  only  power  to  be  employed 
is  that  of  a  reformed  public  opinion;  and  a 
dissolution  of  the  union  will  not  shield  slavery  from 
such  attacks.  For  surely  no  statesman  will  think 
of  rendering  public  opinion  more  tolerant  towards 
slavery,  by  sundering  the  union,  or  will  act  upon  the 


26 

expectation  that  the  free  States  will  become  less 
bold  to  speak  their  minds  on  the  subject  on  being 
delivered  from  all  political  connection  with  it. 

Let  it  be  distinctly  remembered  that  our  object 
is  purely  moral.  It  is  to  deliver  our  colored  breth 
ren  from  slavery,  and  our  white  fellow  citizens 
from  the  sin  of  oppression,  the  fair  fame  of  our 
country  from  the  stinging  reproach  of  hypo 
crisy  and  tyranny,  and  ourselves  and  posterity 
from  the  judgments  of  an  offended  God.  Should 
interested  politicians  seek  to  avail  themselves  of 
the  slavery  question  to  promote  the  views  of 
party,  we  disclaim  their  interference.  While  en 
gaged  in  a  purely  benevolent  work  we  will  not 
suffer  the  reproach  of  being  actuated  by  political 
views. 

Our  whole  reliance  therefore,  under  God,  is  on 
the  power  of  truth,  and  of  public  opinion.  These 
weapons  were  successfully  employed  by  Wilber- 
force,  Clarkson,  and  their  associates,  to  destroy  the 
slave  trade.  The  same  power  in  the  hands  of 
Buxton,  Lushington,  O'Connell,  and  others,  has 
wrung  from  a  reluctant  government,  the  death- 
warrant  of  slavery  in  all  the  British  dominions.  Let 
it  not  be  said  that  in  free  America,  truth  and  the 
sentiments  of  humanity,  have  less  sway  than  in  the 
monarchies  of  the  old  world. 

We  aim  to  bring  back  the  public  sentiment,  con 
cerning  slavery,  to  the  healthy  state  of  the  first 
days  of  the  republic  ;  and  restore  the  abolition 
principles  of  Franklin,  Jefferson,  Rush,  Jay,  and 
others,  and  do  what  we  conceive  those  sages  would 


27 

do,  if  they  were  now  on  the  stage  of  human  life. 
We  would  echo  and  carry  into  speedy  effect,  the 
voice  of  the  disinterested  La  Fayette  : 

"While  I  am  indulging,"  says  he,  "  in  my  views  of  American 
prospects  and  American  liberty,  it  is  mortifying  to  be  told  that  in 
that  very  country  a  large  portion  of  the  people  are  slaves  !  It  is  a 
dark  spot  on  the  face  of  the  nation.  Such  a  state  of  things  can 
not  always  exist." 

It  is  not  only  a  right,  but  an  imperative  duty,  to 
exhibit  the  heinousness  of  the  slave  system,  and 
to  endeavor  to  bring  about  its  entire  abolition. 

"  The  moral,  social  and  political  evils  of  slavery,"  says 
an  independent  abolitionist,  and  able  writer,*  "  are  but  imper 
fectly  known  and  considered.  These  should  be  portrayed  in 
strong  but  true  colors,  and  it  would  not  be  difficult  to  prove, 
that  however  inconvenient  and  dangerous  emancipation  may  be, 
the  continuance  of  slavery  must  be  infinitely  more  inconvenient  and 
dangerous.  *  *  *  But  we  have  as  good  and  as  perfect  a  right  to 
exhort  slave  holders  to  liberate  their  slaves,  as  we  have  to  exhort 
them  to  practice  any  virtue,  or  avoid  any  vice.  Nay,  we  have  not 
only  the  right,  but,  under  certain  circumstances,  it  may  be  our 
duty  to  give  such  advice ;  and  while  we  confine  ourselves  within 
the  boundaries  of  right  and  duty,  we  may,  and  ought  to,  DISRE 
GARD  THE  THREATS  AND  DENUNCIATIONS  BY  WHICH  WE  MAY  BE 
ASSAILED." 

The  philanthropists  of  Britain  were  opposed 
at  first,  but  having  truth  on  their  side,  they  tri 
umphed.  Their  motives  were  assailed,  their  cha 
racters  vilified,  and  their  persons  exposed  to  the 
fury  of  mobs.  But  this  only  showed  them  where 
they  had  to  begin  their  work — by  proving  how 
deadly  is  the  influence  of  slavery  in  debasing  the 

*  Hon.  Wm.  Jay. 


28 

principles  even  of  the  free.  Christianity  was 
opposed,  and  its  advocates  forbidden  to  speak  on 
the  subject.  Republican  principles  are  resisted  in 
many  countries  ;  and  the  danger  of  free  discussion 
forms  the  theme  of  many  a  state  paper  in  absolute 
monarchies.  But  no  sanitary  cordon,  even  where 
tyranny  usurps  dominion  over  mankind,  can  forever 
shut  out  the  contagion  of  free  principles.  The 
temperance  cause  also  was  opposed  with  bitter 
ness,  by  many  who  now  acknowledge  its  benign 
effects,  and  would  be  ashamed  to  be  numbered 
among  its  enemies. 

The  same  public  opinion,  which  can  move  mas 
ters  to  voluntary  emancipation,  will  also  tend  to 
deter  slaves  from  insurrection;  because,  while  it 
is  strenuously  urged  as  the  immediate  duty  of  the 
masters  to  liberate  their  slaves,  and  to  change 
oppressive  laws,  no  countenance  is  given  to  the 
slaves  in  seeking  their  freedom  by  physical  force. 
Slave  holders  are  our  countrymen,  and  some  of 
them  our  personal  friends.  God  forbid  that  we 
should  stir  up  the  oppressed  to  wreak  vengeance  on 
the  heads  of  their  masters.  The  more  slaves  are 
enlightened  and  christianized,  the  better  they  will 
appreciate  the  folly,  as  well  as  madness,  of  attempt 
ing  to  seize  upon  their  rights  through  the  blood  and 
flames  of  a  servile  war.  The  power  of  correct  prin 
ciples  to  prevent  bloodshed,  is  seen  in  the  fact  that 
in  the  insurrection  at  Jamaica,  none  of  the  Christian 
negroes  were  found  among  those  who  were  engaged 
in  scenes  of  violence. 

The  plans,  we  propose,  will  also  furnish  the  only 


29 

effectual  check  to  the  disgraceful  amalgamation 
between  the  white  and  colored  races,  which  is  now 
making  such  rapid  progress  wherever  slavery  exists. 
Restore  the  blacks  to  their  rights,  protect  their 
persons,  honor  the  marriage  institution  among  them, 
permit  families  to  remain  together,  and  there  can 
be  no  doubt  each  race  will,  of  choice,  seek  alliances 
only  among  themselves. 

The  measures  suggested  can  be  demonstrated 
to  be  the  only  means  of  preserving  a  large,  fertile 
and  beautiful  portion  of  our  country  from  impover 
ishment  and  depopulation.*  To  say  nothing  of  a 
war  between  the  whites  and  blacks,  the  only 
remaining  means  proposed,  of  bringing  slavery 
to  an  end,  is  that  of  gradually  emancipating  the 
slaves,  on  the  condition  of  their  being  immediately 
carried  out  of  the  country.  But  if  the  total  aboli 
tion  of  slavery  is  to  be  accomplished  only  by  the 
entire  removal  of  the  slaves,  it  is  manifest  that 
such  a  method  must  be  most  disastrous  to  large 
sections  of  our  country,  if,  as  is  said,  they  cannot  be 
cultivated  by  white  laborers.  Besides,  this  me 
thod  is  impracticable ;  for  it  is  not  to  be  expected 
that  individuals  will  surrender  what  they  consider 
their  property  in  slaves,  and  at  the  same  time  con 
demn  their  fields  to  perpetual  unproductiveness,  for 
the  want  of  laborers.  Nor  will  the  States  con 
sent  to  strip  themselves  of  one  half  their  popula- 

*  President  Jefferson,  though  a  slave  holder,  gave  it  as  his  opinion,  that  "  the 
blacks  will  ultimately,  (in  spite  of  all  attempts  to  keep  them  ignorant,)  be  the  sole 
possessors  of  the  low  country,  and  the  whites  be  obliged  to  migrate  to  other  re 
gions."  But  this  may  be  prevented  by  emancipating,  educating,  and  christianizing 
the  slaves. 


30 

lion,  and  with  it  a  large  part  of  their  federal 
power,  when  by  emancipation  their  national  in 
fluence  would  be  proportionally  increased.  If  it 
should  be  attempted  by  purchase,  it  may  well  be 
questioned  whether  Congress  has  the  Constitu 
tional  power  to  apply  the  treasure  of  the  nation  to 
such  an  object.  But  if  that  could  be  done,  or  if  it 
should  be  attempted  by  the  funds  of  voluntary  be 
nevolence,  the  first  purchases  would  so  raise  the 
price  of  slaves,  that  their  pecuniary  redemption 
would  transcend  the  means  of  the  nation.  The 
loss  of  a  few  thousands  at  the  south  west,  by  cho 
lera,  less  than  two  per  cent,  of  our  whole  slave 
population,  has  the  present  year  raised  the  price  of 
slaves  in  Virginia  twenty-five  to  fifty  per  cent.* 
The  same  would  be  the  effect  of  expatriating  thirty 
or  forty  thousand  slaves  in  a  year,  and  the  price 
would  increase  almost  indefinitely  as  laborers 
were  diminished  in  number.  If  they  were  re 
deemed,  or  voluntarily  liberated,  who  can  calcu 
late  the  price  of  transporting  them  across  the  At 
lantic,  or  furnishing  them  there  with  the  means  of 
support,  of  improvement  and  of  industry.  Or  if 
they  were  removed  to  Africa  as  fast  as  they  in 
crease  in  the  United  States,  and  there  fed,  how 
could  they  be  governed?  It  is  the  serious  appre 
hension  of  many  persons  that  there  would  be  dan 
ger,  even  under  the  firmly  established  government 
of  the  United  States,  in  admitting  them  to  their 
natural  rights.  But  though  we  do  not  admit  this 
danger,  in  freeing  them  on  the  soil  where  they  be- 

*  Richmond  Enquirer. 


31 

long,  there  may  be  a  question  as  to  their  competency 
to  maintain  a  government,  uncultivated  as  they  now 
are,  if  thrown  in  a  mass  beyond  the  control  of  a 
civilized  country.  We  say  nothing  now  of  the 
attachment  of  colored  Americans  to  their  native 
land — nothing  of  the  hardships  they  must  endure 
in  expatriation — nothing  of  the  cruel  injustice  of 
refusing  to  redress  their  wrongs  but  upon  the  pen 
alty  of  banishment  to  a  sickly  climate,  and  a  bar 
barous  shore.  We  barely  say  that  doing  right  is 
the  only  thing  that  will  save  some  of  the  fairest 
portions  of  this  country  from  depopulation. 

In  favor  of  this  banishment  of  two  and  a  half 
millions  of  Americans  from  their  native  land, 
there  is  only  a  single  argument,  and  that  is  the 
unmerited  antipathy  of  the  whites  against  them, 
on  account  of  their  color.  The  abolition  of  sla 
very  will,  itself,  go  far  to  remove  this  irrational 
prejudice,  for  it  is  not  found  excej}t  in  slave  hold 
ing  countries.  At  any  rate,  it  is  too  much  to  ask 
its  gratification  at  so  costly  a  price.  Whereas 
the  abolition  of  slavery,  under  safe  regulations, 
prescribed  by  law,  is  merely  changing  the  civil 
relations  of  the  people,  and  would  not  interrupt 
the  business,  or  order  of  society,  for  a  day.  The 
land,  the  houses,  the  money,  the  credit,  the  mer 
chandize,  the  education  and  intelligence,  the  pro 
fessional  skill,  the  knowledge  of  business,  the  po 
litical  pre-eminence,  the  press,  the  schools,  the 
churches,  would  all  be  in  the  hands  of  the 
whites.  The  necessity  of  subsistence,  and  the 
attachments  to  home,  and  to  the  family,  would  lead 


32 

the  blacks  to  seek  employment  where  they  live ; 
while  their  labor  would  be  just  as  necessary  to 
the  planters  as  before.  Society,  instead  of  being 
dissolved  by  the  disruption  of  half  its  members, 
would  be  more  firmly  knit  together,  by  the  ties  of 
mutual  dependence,  and  the  only  cause  of  distrust 
and  vengeance  would  be  forever  removed.  The 
fertile  soil,  which  holds  all  the  world  as  its  tribu 
taries,  would  continue  to  pour  forth  its  precious 
products,  enriching  its  owners,  without  endanger 
ing  their  tranquillity. 

THE  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION  SOCIETY, 
In  the  outset  of  our  labors,  we  are  met  by  the 
determined  opposition  of  a  society  managed  chiefly 
by  slave  holders,  which  has  set  itself,  by  its  official 
publications,  and  by  speeches  in  its  meetings,  to 
maintain  that  the  continuance  of  slavery,  is  neces 
sary,  and  to  denounce  in  bitter  terms,  the  advocates 
of  immediate  emancipation,  as  a  combination  of 
"  deluded  fanatics  and  reckless  incendiaries." 
Deeply  grieved  as  we  are,  that  respectable  indi 
viduals  should  thus  echo  the  ribaldry  of  the  base, 
when  they  are  unacquainted  with  our  plans,  we 
cannot  submit  to  this  undeserved  reproach,  without 
attempting  to  show  how  far  our  fierce  assailant  is 
herself  deserving  of  confidence,  as  a  remedy  for  the 
evils  of  slavery. 

Had  the  American  Colonization  Society  con- 
lined  its  pretensions  to  the  design  of  the  pious  men 
who  were  among  its  founders,  it  would  never  have 
opposed  the  abolition  of  slavery.  Its  design,  as 


33 

expressed  in  its  constitution,  is  to  colonize  the  free 
people  of  color,  with  their  consent,  on  the  coast 
of  Africa,  or  elsewhere.  The  hope  of  its  found 
ers,  as  stated  by  one  of  them,*  was  that  "  a  few  of 
the  free  blacks,  of  good  character,  could  be  settled 
on  the  African  coast,"  and  be  the  means  "  of  intro 
ducing  civilization  and  religion  among  the  barba 
rous  tribes  already  there.'7  But  knowing  the  reluc 
tance  of  the  free  people  of  color  to  remove  to  a 
climate  that  proved  fatal  to  so  many  ;|  aware  that 
their  residence  in  slave  states  gave  great  uneasi 
ness  to  slave  holders ;  and  conscious  of  the  diffi 
culty  of  obtaining  funds  from  the  charity  of  the 
people,  the  society  has  been,  by  its  friends  in  the 
northern  states,  held  up  as  a  remedy  for  all  the 
evils  of  slavery,  while  in  the  southern  states  they 
have  solicited  funds  on  the  ground  that  colonizing 
the  free  people  of  color  would  enable  the  slave 
holders  to  retain  their  slaves  with  a  firmer  grasp. 
It  is  for  the  purpose  of  occupying  the  whole  ground, 
and  satisfying  both  slave  holders,  and  those  friendly 
to  eventual  emancipation,  that  the  Colonization 
Society  assumes  to  frown  down  all  direct  attempts  to 
remove  the  dreadful  evil  of  slavery.  At  the  same 

*  Samuel  J.  Mills. 

t  The  governor  of  the  colony,  Dr.  Mechlin,  speaking  of  the  mortality  of  the 
emigrants  who  went  from  Charleston,  Savannah,  and  Maryland,  says,  "the 
proportion  of  deaths  is  not  yet  more  than  one  per  cent,  and  a  fraction,  nor  do 
I  think,  it  will  in  the  whole,  after  they  have  fully  undergone  their  seasoning,  exceed 
three  per  cent."— African  Repository,  June,  1833,  p.  120.  The  cholera  in  1832, 
carried  off  4,000  inhabitants  in  this  city,  which  is  a  little  less  than  one  and  a  half 
percent.  The  mortality  of  new  colonists  at  Liberia,  who  go  from  the  south 
ern  parts  of  the  United  States,  is  not  much  more  than  double  that  which  in  New- 
Ybrk  made  every  heart  faint !  And  it  is  known  now  that  VERY  FEW  survive  who 
emigrate  from  the  northern  states. 


34 

time  the  abettors  of  slavery  in  the  south,  have  been 
increasing  the  ferocity  of  their  laws  against  the 
instruction  of  the  slaves,  and  their  emancipation, 
while  they  have  been  infringing  upon  the  rights 
of  the  free  people  of  color,  in  order  to  make  them 
willing  to  emigrate. 

Concerning  the  pretensions  of  the  society,  of 
promoting  the  abolition  of  slavery,  the  judgment 
of  European  philanthropists  has  already  anticipa 
ted  that  of  posterity.  The  protest  of  July,  1833, 
against  the  American  Colonization  Society,  signed 
by  Wilberforce,  Buxton,  Lushington,  O'Connell, 
and  other  British  abolitionists,  who  are  unaffected 
by  our  national  or  sectional  excitements,  has  pro- 
ounced  the  professions  of  the  society  "  delusive," 
audits  existence  "  an  obstruction"  to  the  overthrow 
of  slavery  throughout  the  world.  To  enable  the 
public  to  judge  whether  the  Colonization  Society 
has  any  claims  to  patronage,  as  an  institution  pro 
fessing,  or  tending,  to  rid  the  country  of  slavery,  we 
shall  quote  testimony,  chiefly  from  their  official 
organ,  the  African  Repository,  the  instrument  by 
which  it  has  been,  for  more  than  ten  years,  mould 
ing  the  public  sentiment  to  its  purposes. 

THE  COLONIZATION  SOCIETY  DOES  NOT  AIM  AT  ABOLITION. 

"  It  is  far  from  the  intention  of  this  Society  to  effect,  in  fan/ 
manner,  the  tenure  by  which  a  certain  species  of  property  is 
held." — Clay's  Speech. 

"  From  its  origin,  and  throughout,  the  whole  period  of  its  exist 
ence,  it  has  constantly  disclaimed  all  intention  of  interfering,  in 
the  smallest  degree,  with  the  rights  of  property,  or  the  object  oj 


35 

emancipation,  GRADUAL  or  immediate."  *  "  The  society  pre 

sents  to  the  American  public,  no  project  of  emancipation" — Idem. 

"  He  thought  it  necessary  to  show,  that  so  far  from  being  in 
the  smallest  degree  connected  with  the  abolition  of  slavery,  the 
proposed  society  would  prooe  one  of  the  greatest  securities  to 
enable  the  master  to  keep  in  possession  his  own  property." — Ran 
dolph's  Speech. 

"  It  is  no  Abolition  Society  ;  it  addresses,  as  yet,  arguments 
to  no  master.  It  denies  the  design  of  attempting  emancipation, 
either  partial  or  general." — African  Repository,  vol.  3,  p.  197. 

"  The  Colonization  Society,  as  such,  have  renounced  wholly 
the  name  and  the  characteristics  of  abolitionists.  In  this  point 
they  have  been  unjustly  and  injuriously  slandered.  INTO  THEIR 

ACCOUNTS,  THE    SUBJECT    OF    EMANCIPATION    DOES  NOT  ENTER  AT 

ALL. — Idem.  p.  300. 

"  Recognising  the  constitutional  and  legitimate  existence  of 
Slavery,  it  seeks  not  to  interfere,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  with 
the  rights  it  creates.  Acknowledging  the  necessity  by  which 
its  present  continuance,  and  the  rigorous  provisions  for  its  main 
tenance,  are  justified"  fyc. — Idem.  vol.  3,  p.  16. 

"  To  eradicate  or  remove  the  evil  immediately  is  impossible, 
nor  can  any  law  of  conscience  govern  necessity." — Vol.  1.  p.  251. 

"  The  scope  of  the  Society  is  large  enough,  but  it  is  nowise 
mingled  or  confounded  with  the  broad  sweeping  views  of  a  few 
fanatics  in  America,  who  would  urge  us  on  to  the  sudden  and 
total  abolition  of  slavery."— Vol.  3,  p.  197. 

"  The  emancipation  of  slaves  or  the  amelioration  of  their  con 
dition,  with  the  moral,  intellectual,  and  political  improvement  of 
people  of  color  within  the  United  States,  are  objects  foreign  to 
the  powers  of  this  Society." — Address  of  the  Board  of  Managers, 
of  the  American  Colonization  Society,  to  its  Auxiliary  Societies. — 
Vol.  7,  p.  291. 

"  Our  Society  and  the  friends  of  Colonization  wish  to  be  distinct 
ly  understood  upon  this  point.  From  the  beginning  they  have  disa- 


36 

vowed,  and  they  do  yet  disavow,  that  their  object  is  the  emancipa 
tion  of  slaves." — Speech  of  James  S.  Green,  Esq.  before  the 
New- Jersey  Colonization  Society. 

COLONIZATION  TENDS  TO  PERPETUATE  SLAVERY. 
"  THEY,  (THE  SOUTHERN  SLAVE  HOLDERS)  WILL  CONTRIBUTE 
MORE  EFFECTUALLY  TO  THE  CONTINUANCE  AND  STRENGTH  OF 
THIS  SYSTEM,  (SLAVERY)  BY  REMOVING  THOSE  NOW  FREE,  THAN 
BY  ANY  OR  ALL  OTHER  METHODS  WHICH  CAN  POSSIBLY  BE  DE 
VISED.  African  Rep.  vol.  1,  p.  227. 

"  The  Society,  as  a  society,  recognizes  no  principles  in  refer 
ence  to  the  slave  system.  It  says  nothing  and  proposes  to  do 
nothing,  respecting  it"  *  *  *  "  So  far  as  we  can  ascertain,  the 
supporters  of  the  colonization  policy  generally  believe,  that 
slavery  is  in  this  country  a  constitutional  and  legitimate  system, 
which  they  have  no  inclination,  interest  nor  ability  to  disturb." — 
North  American  Review,  for  July,  1832. 

"  The  tendency  of  the  scheme,  and  one  of  its  objects,  is  to 
secure  slave  holders,  and  the  whole  southern  country,  against 
certain  evil  consequences  growing  out  of  the  present  three-fold 
mixture  of  our  population." — Address  of  Rockbridge  Coloniza 
tion  Society. — African  Repository,  vol  4,  p.  274. 

"  There  was  but  one  way,  (to  avert  danger,)  but  that  might 
be  made  effectual,  fortunately.  It  was  to  PROVIDE  AND  KEEP 

OPEN  A  DRAIN  FOR  THE  EXCESS  BEYOND  THE  OCCASIONS  OF  PRO 
FITABLE  EMPLOYMENT.  Mr.  Archer  had  been  stating  the  case  in 
the  supposition  that  after  the  present  class  of  free  blacks  had 
been  exhausted,  by  the  operation  of  the  plan  he  was  recommend 
ing,  others  would  be  supplied  for  action,  in  the  proportion  of  the 
excess  of  colored  population  it  would  be  necessary  to  throw  off, 
by  the  process  of  voluntary  manumission  or  sale.  The  effect 
must  result  inevitably  from  the  depreciating  value  of  the  slaves, 
ensuing  their  disproportionate  multiplication.  The  depreciation 
would  be  relieved  and  retarded  at  the  same  time,  by  the  process. 
The  two  operations  would  aid  reciprocally,  and  sustain  each  other, 
and  both  be  in  the  highest,  degree  beneficial.  It  was  on  the 


37 

ground  of  interest,  therefore,  the  most  indisputable  pecuniary 
interest,  that  he  addressed  himself  to  the  people  and  legislatures 
of  the  slave  holding  states." — Speech  of  Mr.  Archer,  Fifteenth 
Annual  Report. 

THE  COLONIZATION  SOCIETY  APOLOGIZES  FOR  SLAVERY. 
"  Slavery  is  an  evil  entailed  upon  the  present  generation  of 
slave  holders,  which  they  must  suffer,  whether  they  will  or  not." 
— African  Rep.  vol.  5,  p.  179.  "  The  existence  of  slavery 
among  us,  though  not  at  all  to  be  objected  to  our  Southern  breth 
ren  as  a  fault"  fyc. — Second  Annual  Report  of  New-York  Col 
onization  Society.  "  It,  (the  Society)  condemns  no  man  because 
Le  is  a  slave  holder." — African  Repository. 

"  They,  (the  Abolitionists)  confound  the  misfortunes  of  one 
generation  with  the  crimes  of  another,  and  would  sacrifice  both 
individual  and  public  good  to  an  unsubstantial  theory  of  the 
rights  of  man." — African  Repository,  vol.  7,  p.  202. 

In  almost  every  address,  delivered  before  the 
Society,  similar  expressions  occur.  By  assuming 
the  ground  implied  in  the  above  extracts,  the  Col 
onization  Society  have  fallen  into  the  habit  of 
glossing  over  and  palliating  the  enormities  of  the 
slave  system. 

IT  JUSTIFIES  KEEPING  THE  SLAVES  IGNORANT. 

E.  B.  Caldwell,  the  first  Secretary  of  the  American  Coloniza 
tion  Society,  in  his  speech  at  its  formation,  recommended  them 
to  be  kept  "  in.  the  lowest  state  of  ignorance  and  degradation,  for, 
(says  he)  the  nearer  you  bring  them  to  the  condition  of  brutes, 
the  better  chance  do  you  give  them  of  possessing  their  apathy." 

"  The  public  safety  of  our  brethren  at  the  South  requires 
them  (the  slaves)  to  be  kept  ignorant  and  uninstructed." — G.  P. 
Disosway,  Esq.,  an  active  Colonizationist. 

"  If  the  free  colored  people  were  generally  taught  to  read,  it 
might  be  an  inducement  to  them  to  remain  in  this  country,  (that 


38 

is,  in  their   native  country ! ! )     We   would   offer  them  no  such 
inducement." — Southern  Religious  Telegraph,  February  19, 1831. 

"  It  is  the  business  of  the  free  (their  safety  requires  it)  to 
keep  the  slaves  in  ignorance.  But  a  few  days  ago,  a  proposition 
was  made  in  the  legislature  of  Georgia  to  allow  them  so  much 
instruction  as  to  enable  them  to  read  the  Bible ;  which  was 
promptly  rejected  by  a  large  majority." — Proceedings  of  the  N.  Y. 
State  Col.  Soc.  at  Second  Ann. 

COLONIZATION  INCREASES  THE  VALUE  OF  SLAVES. 

"  The  execution  of  this  scheme  would  augment,  instead  of 
diminishing,  the  value  of  property  left  behind." — African  Rep. 
vol.  2,  p.  22. 

THE  SOCIETY  TRADUCES  THE  COLORED  PEOPLE. 

Our  citizens  are  often  told,  by  agents  and  others, 
who  are  pleading  for  money,  that  the  Colonization 
Society  is  to  civilize  and  evangelize  Africa.  "  Each 
emigrant,"  says  the  Hon.  Henry  Clay,  Ctis  a  Mis 
sionary,  carrying  with  him  credentials  in  the  holy 
cause  of  civilization,  religion  and  free  institutions." 
"They,"  [the  free  people  of  color,]  "and  they 
only,"  says  the  African  Repository,  "  are  qualified 
for  colonizing  Africa."  What  are  their  qualifica 
tions  ?  Let  the  society  answer  in  its  own  words : 

"  Free  blacks  are  a  greater  nuisance  than  even  slaves  them 
selves." — African  Rep.  vol.  2,  p.  328. 

"  A  horde  of  miserable  people — the  objects  of  universal  sus 
picion — subsisting  by  plunder." — Gen.  C.  P.  Mercer. 

"  An  anomalous  race  of  beings  the  most  debased  upon  earth." 
African  Rep.  vol.  7,  p.  230. 

"  Of  all  classes  of  our  population  the  most  vicious  is  that  of 
the  free  colored." — Tenth  Annual  Report. 


39 


THE  COLONY  FACILITATES  THE  SLAVE  TRADE. 

We  seek  to  do  the  Colonization  Society  no 
injustice ;  but  wish  the  public  generally  to  under 
stand  its  character.  The  tendency  of  the  Society 
to  abolish  the  slave  trade,  by  means  of  its  African 
Colony,  has  been  strenuously  urged  by  its  friends. 
But  the  fallacy  of  this  is  admitted  by  the  following 
extract  from  the  Fourteenth  Report  of  the  Soci 
ety  itself,  in  1831. 

"  Some  appalling  facts  in  regard  to  the  slave  trade  have  come 
to  the  knowledge  of  the  Board  of  Managers,  during  the  last  year. 
With  undiminished  atrocity  and  activity  is  this  odious  traffic  now 
carried  on  all  along  the  African  coast.  Slave  factories  are  esta 
blished  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  colony ;  and  at  the  Galli- 
nas,  (between  Liberia  and  Sierra  Leone)  not  less  than  900  slaves 
were  shipped  during  last  summer,  in  the  space  of  three  weeks." 

On  the  6th  of  April,  1832,  the  British  House  of 
Commons  ordered  the  printing  of  a  document 
entitled  "  Slave  Trade — Sierra  Leone,"  containing 
official  evidence  of  the  fact  that  the  pirates  en 
gaged  in  the  African  Slave  Trade,  are  supplied 
from  the  stores  of  Sierra  Leone  and  Liberia,  with 
such  articles  as  the  infernal  traffic  demands  !  An 
able  English  writer,  on  the  subject  of  Colonization, 
thus  notices  this  astounding  fact : 

"  And  here  it  may  be  well  to  observe,  that  as  long  as  negro 
slavery  lasts,  all  colonies  on  the  African  coast,  of  whatever  de 
scription,  must  tend  to  support  it,  because,  in  all  commerce,  the 
supply  is  more  or  less  proportioned  to  the  demand.  The  demand 
exists  in  negro  slavery ;  the  supply  arises  from  the  African  slave 
trade.  And  what  greater  convenience  could  the  African  slave 
traders  desire  than  shops  well  stored  along  the  coast,  with  the  very 
articles  which  their  trade  demands.  That  the  African  slave 


40 

traders  do  get  thus  supplied  at  Sierra  Leone  and  Liberia  is  matter 
of  official  evidence :  and  we  know  from  the  nature  of  human 
things,  that  they  will  get  supplied,  in  defiance  of  all  law  or  pre 
caution,  as  long  as  the  demand  calls  for  the  supply,  and  there  are 
free  shops  stored  with  all  they  want  at  hand.  The  shop  keeper, 
however  honest,  would  find  it  impossible  always  to  distinguish 
between  the  African  slave  trader  or  his  agents  and  other  dealers. 
And  how  many  shop  keepers  are  there  any  where  that  would  be 
over-scrupulous  in  questioning  a  customer  with  a  full  purse  ?" 

THE  MORAL  INFLUENCE  OF  THE  COLONY  is  NOT  WHAT  WAS 

ANTICIPATED. 

That  it  is  a  convenience  to  missionary  opera 
tions  in  Africa,  to  have  a  well  regulated  commer 
cial  station  on  the  coast,  cannot  be  doubted.  But 
as  to  any  direct  moral  influence  from  a  trading 
colony,  all  history  forbids  us  to  expect  it.  If  any 
such  colonies  could  produce  such  a  result,  we 
might  have  expected  it  from  those  of  New-England. 
But  their  superior  skill  in  trade,  in  arts,  in  arms, 
the  diseases  they  introduced,  the  strong  drink,  the 
deadly  weapons,  and  the  wars  between  tribes,  have 
exterminated  the  natives  of  this  country.  That 
the  influence  of  Liberia  may  be  the  same,  is  great!}' 
to  be  feared.  The  Rev.  J.  B.  Pinney,  now  just 
returning  to  Africa,  as  a  missionary,  says  of  the 
colony,  in  which  he  spent  several  months  : 

"  But  two  or  three  hitherto  have  done  any  thing  scarcely  to 
wards  agriculture.  The  wealthy  find  it  easier  to  trade  ;  the  poor 
suppose  it  degrading.  *  *  Nothing  has  been  done  for  the  na 
tives,  hitherto,  by  the  colonists,  except  to  educate  a  few  who  were 
in  their  families  in  the  capacity  of  servants.  *  *  *  A  colonist  of 
any  dye,  would  think  himself  degraded  by  marrying  a  native.  *** 
,4s  little  effort  is  made  by  the  colonists  to  elevate  them,  as  is  usually 
made,  by  the  higher  classes  in  tin:  United  Slates  to  better  fin  con 


41 

dition  of  the  lower.  Such  I  suppose  will  ever  be  the  case,  when 
men  are  not  actuated  by  a  pure  desire  to  do  good." 

It  has  also  been  credibly  stated,  and  never  de 
nied,  that  FOURTEEN  HUNDRED  BARRELS  of  RUM7 

(besides  other  spirituous  liquors)  have  been  sold  at 
the  colony,  in  a  single  year.  The  "  Liberia  Herald" 
shows  also,  that  gunpowder,  guns,  and  "  spear- 
pointed  knives,"  are  sold  at  Liberia  as  the  principal 
articles  of  commerce.  Knowing  these  facts,  many 
friends  of  temperance,  and  of  peace,  who  formerly 
contributed  liberally  to  the  Society,  have  declared 
that  they  cannot  conscientiously  do  so  any  longer. 

THE  COLONIZATION  SOCIETY  CENSURES  THE  FORMING  OF  ANTI- 
SLAVERY  OR  ABOLITION  SOCIETIES. 

When  Anti- Slavery  Societies  are  blamed,  and 
considered  aggressive,  for  opposing  the  Coloniza 
tion  Society,  it  seems  to  be  forgotten  that  the 
Colonization  Society  had  filed  its  previous  protest 
against  the  formation  of  Anti-Slavery  Societies. 
We  appeal  to  the  Records. 

"  The  Society  *  *  *  having  declared  that  it  is  in  nowise  allied 
to  any  Abolition  Society  in  America,  or  elsewhere,  is  ready, 
whenever  there  is  need,  TO  PASS  A  CENSURE  ON  SUCH  SOCIETIES  IN 
AMERICA." — Speech  of  Mr.  Harrison,  of  Virginia,  Fifteenth 
Annual  Report. 

The  Colonization  Society,  as  has  been  clearly 
shown,  solemnly  disclaims  any  design  of  promoting 
the  abolition  of  slavery;  no  intelligent  friend  of 
that  society  believes  it  practicable  ever  to  remove 
the  whole  slave  population  from  the  country ;  most 
persons  consider  it  impracticable  to  remove  even 

6 


42 

the  annual  increase ;  it  is  susceptible  of  easy  de 
monstration  that  the  entire  abolition  of  slavery  by 
voluntary  emancipation  will  become  less  probable 
if  the  value  of  slaves  should  increase,  as  it  will,  by 
the  removal  of  a  part ;  and  that  the  design  of  pro 
ducing  entire  emancipation,  cherished  on  the  part 
of  any  portion  of  the  colonization ists,  by  removing 
the  free  blacks  to  Africa,  is  a  scheme  that  must  be 
pronounced  chimerical  by  every  well  informed  per 
son  who  examines  the  subject.  To  deny  it,  is  con 
clusive  evidence  that  the  person  has  but  a  superfi 
cial  knowledge  of  the  subject,  or  the  opinions  of 
those  most  conversant  with  it. 

But  it  is  said  by  some  that  "  the  moral  influence, 
of  the  Society,  by  the  discussion  and  inquiries  it 
excites,  will  eventually  tend  to  the  total  abolition 
of  slavery."  It  would  seem,  however,  that  little 
credit  is  due  to  the  Society,  for  promoting  discussion, 
since  we  find  it  calling  meetings,  and  employing 
distinguished  orators  to  stigmatize  as  fanatics  and 
incendiaries  those  who  have  avowed  it  to  be  their 
object,  by  inquiry  and  discussion,  "  to  awaken  a 
public  sentiment  throughout  the  nation,  that  will  be 
opposed  to  the  continuance  of  slavery  in  any  part 
of  the  republic."*  If  the  Colonization  Society 
were  friendly  to  abolition,  or  even  to  discussion"; 
would  it  thus  unsparingly  denounce  those  who  only 
wish  to  use  the  one  to  effect  the  other  1  An  en- 
lightened  community  will  judge. 

But  our  principal  objection  against  expatria 
tion  is  that  it  is  founded  in  PREJUDICE  against  a  part 

*  Constitution  of  the  New- York  City  Anti- Slavery  Society, 


43 

of  this  nation,  on  account  of  the  shade  which  the 
Creator  has  given  to  their  complexion.  The 
Society  styles  itself  "  American,"  solicits  the  support 
of  the  whole  nation,  and  has  even  petitioned  for 
the  patronage  of  the  Government.  Its  voice  there 
fore,  if  sustained,  will  be  taken  by  the  world  as 
the  voice  of  the  whole  nation,  saying  to  one-sixth 
of  its  members  :  We  have  such  contempt  for  you, 
on  account  of  that  for  which  you  are  in  no  way  to 
blame,  that  we  will  not  suffer  you  to  live  among 
us,  but  will  oppress  you,  and  weary  you  out,  till 
you  shall  consent  to  be  banished  to  the  grave  yards 
of  Liberia. 

If  the  principal  members  of  the  Colonization 
Society  had  not  declined  setting   an  example  of 
emancipating  their  slaves ;  if  the  Society  had  not 
expressly  disclaimed  all  efforts  for  abolition ;  if  it 
had  not  apologized  for  slavery,  and  justified  keep 
ing  the  slaves  in  ignorance ;  if  it  had  not  unfairly 
monopolized  nearly  all  the  sympathy  in  this  country 
for  people  of  color ;  if  it  were  not  an  opiate  on  the 
consciences  of  slave  holders,  and  a  delusion  before 
the  eyes  of  the  philanthropic ;  if  it  did  not  oppose 
Abolition    Societies;  if  it  did   not  hold   out  one 
inducement  to  the  people  of  the  northern  states, 
and  an  opposite  one  to  the  people  of  the  southern 
states ;  we  should  not  have  occasion  to  bring  for 
ward  these  painful  evidences  that  it  is  an  obstruc 
tion  to  the  improvement  of  the  colored  race,  to  the 
progress  of  religion,  to  temperance,  to  peace,  and 
the  rights  of  man.     As  a  Society,  we  have  clearly 
proved  that  it  is  obnoxious  to  these  censures.   If,  as 


44 

we  doubt  not,  many  of  its  members  are  at  heart  op 
posed  to  the  avowed  principles  we  have  quoted,  it 
is  for  such  to  consider  the  correctness  of  adhering  to 
an  institution  that  is  doing  so  much  to  uphold  them. 
The  piety  of  some  of  its  founders,  the  devoted- 
ness  of  many  of  its  agents,  and  the  respect  in 
which  a  large  number  of  its  friends  are  deservedly 
held,  will  not  rescue  the  principles  of  the  Society 
from  being  regarded  as  inimical  to  the  welfare  of 
the  colored  people  in  this  nation. 

But  whatever  may  be  the  difference  of  opinion 
on  several  subordinate  points,  there  is  only  one  way 
to  meet  the  crisis  to  which  we  have  arrived.  The 
proof  is  abundant  that  the  only  means  of  safety 
is  the  entire  abolition  of  Slavery.  It  is  believed, 
that  when  the  doctrine  is  properly  understood, 
our  citizens  will  not  be  slow  to  be  convinced 
that  the  only  wise  method  of  making  it  entire 
is  to  make  it  immediate.  The  right,  and  the  God 
of  right,  are  with  us.  Relying  upon  His  arm  for 
support  and  guidance,  and  imploring  His  bless 
ing  for  success,  we  address  ourselves  to  our  work, 
unangered  and  unawed,  and  invite  the  support  and 
aid  of  our  fellow-citizens,  under  the  firm  and  set 
tled  assurance,  that,  whatever  of  labor  or  oblo 
quy,  it  may  cost  the  friends  of  abolition,  it  is  THE 

CAUSE     OF    GOD    AND    OUR    COUNTRY,    AND    WILL    SUC 
CEED. 


CONSTITUTION 


OF  THE 


NEW-YORK  CITY  ANTI-SLAVERY  SOCIETY. 


WHEREAS  our  national  existence  is  based  on  the  principle  laid 
down  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  "  that  all  mankind  are 
created  equal,  and  that  they  are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with 
certain  inalienable  rights,  among  which  are  life,  liberty,  and  the 
pursuit  of  happiness  ;"  and  whereas,  after  the  lapse  of  nearly  sixty 
years,  since  the  faith  and  honor  of  the  American  people  were 
pledged  to  this  avowal,  before  Almighty  God  and  the  world,  one- 
sixth  part  of  the  nation  are  held  in  bondage  by  their  fellow  citizens ; 
and  whereas  slavery  is  contrary  to  the  principles  of  natural  justice, 
of  our  republican  form  of  government,  and  of  the  Christian  reli 
gion,  and  is  greatly  hindering  the  prosperity  of  the  country,  while 
it  is  endangering  the  peace,  union  and  liberties  of  the  States ;  and 
whereas  we  believe  no  scheme  of  expatriation,  either  voluntary  or 
by  compulsion,  can  remove  this  great  and  increasing  evil ;  and 
whereas  we  believe  that  it  is  practicable,  by  appeals  to  the  con 
sciences,  hearts,  and  interests  of  the  people,  to  awaken  a  public 
sentiment,  throughout  the  nation,  that  will  be  opposed  to  the  con 
tinuance  of  slavery,  in  any  part  of  the  republic,  and  by  effecting 
the  speedy  abolition  of  slavery,  prevent  a  general  convulsion ;  and 
whereas  we  believe  that  we  owe  it  to  the  oppressed,  to  our  fellow- 
citizens  who  hold  slaves,  to  posterity  and  to  God,  to  do  all  that  is 
lawfully  in  our  power  to  bring  about  the  extinction  of  slavery,  we 
do  hereby  agree  (with  a  prayerful  reliance  on  that  Being  who 
"  has  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men  to  dwell  on  all  the  face 


46 

of  the  earth,")  to  form  ourselves  into  a  Society,  to  be  governed  by 
the  following 

CONSTITUTION. 

ARTICLE  I,  This  Society  shall  be  styled  the  "  New- York  City 
Anti-Slavery  Society." 

ARTICLE  IJ.  The  object  of  this  Society  shall  be  to  collect  and 
diffuse  information  on  the  true  character  of  slavery  ;  to  convince 
our  countrymen  of  its  heinous  criminality  in  the  sight  of  God  . 
to  show  that  the  duty,  safety,  and  interest  of  all  concerned  require 
its  abandonment;  and  to  take  all  lawful,  moral,  and  religious 
means  to  effect  a  total  and  immediate  abolition  of  Slavery  in  the 
United  States. 

ARTICLE  III.  This  Society  shall  aim  to  elevate  the  character 
and  condition  of  the  people  of  color,  by  encouraging  their  intel 
lectual,  moral,  and  religious  improvement,  by  correcting  the  preju 
dices  of  public  opinion,  and  by  endeavoring  to  obtain  for  our 
colored  fellow-citizens  an  equality  with  the  whites  of  civil  and 
religious  privileges ;  but  will  never  countenance  the  oppressed  in 
vindicating  their  rights  by  resorting  to  physical  force. 

ARTICLE  IV.  Any  person  who  agrees  with  the  principles  of  this 
Constitution,  and  contributes  to  the  funds,  may  be  a  member  of 
the  Society,  and  shall  be  entitled  to  vote  at  its  meetings. 

[The  remaining  articles  regulate  the  officers  and  their  duties, 
provide  for  a  meeting  on  the  first  Wednesday  of  October  annually, 
and  at  other  times  on  the  call  of  the  Committee,  and  prescribe  the 
mode  of  altering  the  Constitution.] 

The  Society  then  went  into  the  choice  of  Officers,  when  the 
following  persons  were  chosen. 

ARTHUR  TAPPAN,  President. 

WILLIAM  GREEN,  Jr.,  Vice  President 

JOHN  RANKIN,  Treasurer. 

ELIZUR  WRIGHT.  Jr.,  Cor.  Secretary. 

CIIAS.  W.  DENISON,  Rec.  Secretary. 

JOSHUA  LEAVITT,  V 

ISAAC  T.  HOPPER, 

ABRAHAM  L.  Cox,  M  D    >  Managers 

LEWIS  TAPPAN, 

WM  GOODELL,  j 


• 


14  DAY  USE 

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